Mare
Colour: Chestnut
Breed: Registered as Dartmoor
Type: Riding pony (described as a child’s hunter)
Foaled: 1910
Height: 13 hands

Sire: Lord Polo 135
Dam: Violet (Bay) unregistered Dartmoor pony

CUP MOSS was a chestnut mare, foaled in 1910, and bred by G.H. Horrell, of Buck Tor, Yelverton, who bred from her two foals, in 1913 a bay filly, and in 1915 a grey filly by stallion Admiral Togo.
“. . . shortly after the First World War the registration of Dartmoors was still governed by two official utterances of nearly 20 years standing : broadly by the desire expressed by the Polo Pony Society in 1901 that registration of mountain and moorland ponies should be confined to the progeny of ‘pure pony mares’ and those actually registered should have at least three-quarters “pony blood” over all. This was followed a year later by the Dartmoor local committees “resolution” forbidding judges to pass any ponies known to have more than a quarter Arab/Thoroughbred or an eighth Hackney blood. Nor should these be seen as passing thoughts, for both were reprinted over the years.”
Further, to the General Rule of May 9th 1901. The following heights have been officially accepted by the respective Local Committees:

Dartmoor-
Stallions: 13.2
Mares: 13-0

Cup Moss was registered in the National Pony Society Stud Book Volume 14 (1915-1916) by her new owner Mrs Joseph Oscar Muntz in 1916. She was thirteen hands, and was entered in the, “Dartmoor Pony Section,” (her number 3120.)

At the National Pony Society’s Spring Show, of 1917, Cup Moss took, “third prize,” in Class 23, Mountain or Moorland Pony Mares likely to breed a Riding Pony, (any age, not exceeding 14.2, with foal at foot or to foal in 1917.)
The judges, Major Sir Merrick R. Burrell, Baronet and Mr. T.F. Dale had this to say :-
The chief interest of the Mountain and Moorland Classes at Islington lies in the fact that we are enabled to see representative specimens of our native ponies side by side with the best light horses of the year, Hunters, Polo Ponies and Hackneys.

It is well known to all breeders that these native ponies have been invaluable as foundation stock for all breeds of light horses. The Hunters, the Polo Ponies and the Hackney Ponies owe a great deal to Welsh, Exmoor, Fell and other native breeds.
The value to horse breeding of native pony blood is derived from the way the breeding stock of the Mountain and Moorland Ponies are raised, living from their foalhood on mountains and moorlands, they derive from natural surroundings and the struggle for existence, the hardiness, soundness, docility and intelligence which these ponies transmit to their descendants.
These pony qualities are reproduced in the courage of the Hunter, the handiness of the Polo Pony and the dash and fire of the Hackney.
It was then with the full consciousness of the value of the native ponies that the judges undertook their task.

At first sight it appears that the ponies are of very different types and that the awarding of comparative degrees of merit is a very difficult task. But closer examination reveals common characteristics.
There is the pony head and expression, the peculiar alertness which is one of the charms of the pony as it is one of the results of the semi-feral life of its ancestors. There is also the true, natural action and the concentration of power and vitality in small compass which suggests the possibilities of development into a larger animal under the influence of a suitable environment.
In the Class for Brood Mares, suitable to breed a Riding Pony, . . . . . The next three in the class were very level in merit. . . . . the third Cup Moss, was a useful type of child’s hunter. . . . . .
We thought all these ponies of high merit as foundation stock for riding ponies. They were the pick of a strong class of fourteen, most of which fulfilled the conditions required.
In 1919 Cup Moss won “second prize,” at the Brentor and Lydford Pony Show on 4th, August in a class for, “Dartmoor Pony Brood Mares”, (not exceeding 13.0 hands), her foal was Kissing Cup.
Again at, “Brentor and Lydford” on 21st August, 1921, she was second in the same class, her foal was Mossy Face.

” ” The Dartmoor Pony A History of the Breed by Joseph Palmer, page 40.

Produce bred at Foxhams were:-
1918 – chestnut colt, Stirrup Cup stallion Arthur’s Pride
1919 – chestnut filly, Kissing Cup stallion Arthur’s Pride
1921 – chestnut colt, Mossy Face stallion Riyal
1924 – chestnut whole coloured filly, Moss Rose stallion Love Song
1925 – chestnut colt, Loving Cup stallion Love Song
1929 – bay or brown colt King Cup II by Love Song

Notes:
The cup moss plant is thought to be common on soil and tree stumps. It has stalked cup-shaped erect systems which have a pale green granular surface.

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